Why Does Seymour Kill Himself

The Words of A Psychosis Imagine a book whose words inspired others to kill. Now imagine this same book not only being provided to students, but is even taught to them in school. In 1980, the famous singer John Lennon was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman. When Police arrived, they saw Mark reading J. D. Salinger’s classic book, The Catcher In The Rye. Mark’s reasoning for killing Lennon, was due to him being a phony.

Holden’s deep depression arose from Allie’s death, and at Holden’s lowest moments, he starts to think about Allie. His depression started when Holden “broke all the goddamn windows with [his] fist” (39). Holden is unable to properly grieve for his brother leaving him in bitter depression with the lingering memories of Allie to bring him comfort. At the park, Holden’s contemplation on his own death leads him back to thoughts about Allie at the cemetery. Holden recalls the feeling of guilt he felt when he had to leave Allie at the cemetery so eventually he stopped going. Allie brings Holden back to reality at the park making him go see Phoebe and eventually Allie’s death reminds Holden of why he can’t leave Phoebe. The pain Holden constantly feels because of Allie’s death drags him deeper into depression, but also gives him some comfort in his toughest times. Holden’s contrast of emotions about Allie portrays his inability to stop thinking about Allie and to accept that Allie is gone.

As the play goes on, Hamlet encounters his father's ghost. Upon discovering that his father's death wasn't natural, he says with much feeling that "Haste me to know't, that I with wings as swift/ As meditation, or the thoughts of love,/ May sweep to my revenge" (1.5.29-31). The ghost tells him that he was murdered by Claudius. His motives were his love for Gertrude, without her knowledge or consent. Hamlet is furious and seething with rage with the news of his father's murder. Knowing the truth makes Hamlet's subconscious realize that killing Claudius would be similar to killing himself. This is so because Hamlet recognizes that Claudius' actions of murdering his brother and marrying Hamlet's mother, mimicked Hamlet's inner unconscious desires. Hamlet's unconscious fantasies have always been closely related to Claudius' conduct. All of Hamlet's once hidden feelings seem to surface in spite of all of the "repressing forces," when he cries out, "Oh my prophetic soul!/ My uncle!" (1.5.40-41). From here, Hamlet's consciousness must deal with the frightful truth (Jones).

Salinger highlights the struggle after a loved one’s death through the protagonist, Holden, who accounts the memories of his brother Allie: “He used to laugh so hard at something he thought of at the dinner table that he just about fell off his chair. I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage. I don't blame them” (Salinger 38). At an adolescent age, Holden had to go through the tragedy of his brother's death, where he demonstrated strange behavior due to his emotional instability. Holden had ruined his friendship with Stradlater, who’d asked Holden to write him an English prompt where Holden wrote about Allie’s glove, but had disappointed Stradlater, thus Holden tore the paper. Holden became furious due to the connection Holden had with his brother, he portrayed the misunderstanding that society and adolescents have of one another after a

Holden loved Allie, and was disturbed from the news of his death. Holden was hospitalized after punching his garage windows. When Holden explained Allie’s traits, he said, “But it wasn’t just that he was the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest, in lots of ways” (Salinger 50).” Holden thought the most of Allie. He thought Allie had the most potential out of anybody he had ever met. He also thought Allie was a genuinely good person, and that he did not deserve to die. One of the greatest causes to depression is a death or a loss. When Holden finally came up with an answer to phoebe’s question to think of something that he liked, Holden’s answer was that he liked Allie. Phoebe told Holden that Allie is dead. Holden then said, “I know he's dead! Don't you think I know that? I can still like him, though, can't I? Just because somebody's dead, you don't just stop liking them, for God's sake especially if they were about a thousand times nicer than the people you know that're alive and all" (Salinger 222-223). Holden was constantly depressed about Allie because he was always thinking of him. Allie was the nicest person Holden had ever met. The death of a person with an impact like that would cause anyone devastation. His mindset makes him believe that no one else will be as good to him as Allie was. He thought the best person that will ever be in his life was gone

Although Holden “hardly even know[s]” James, he sees him as someone who is real and not phony, admiring his resistance to lie (Salinger 171. The deaths of Allie and James cause Holden to contemplate suicide in order to escape the world of phoniness he lives in. Consequently, Holden’s constant thoughts about suicide lead to his own loss of innocence and advancement toward adulthood.

The death of Holden’s brother also take a significant toll on him and his innocence. The death of his brother sparks off the road to the loss of Holden’s innocence, and Holden starts realizing the phoniness in people. Holden labels everyone who is “corrupted” and not pure to themselves as phonies. Holden depicts almost everyone as fake and not true to themselves, except Allie and Phoebe. When describing Allie Holden says “it wasn’t just that he was the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest …. God, he was a nice kid, though”. In Holden’s eyes Allie represents innocence and this confuses Holden because how can something so innocent die so young? Another death that changed Holden is James Castle a boy that committed

It was a very stupid thing to do, I'll admit, but I hardly didn't even know I was doing it, and you didn't know Allie,” ( Salinger 39).This death was one of the leading causes of Holden losing his chastity, and make him want to help preserve others. He saw the effect it had on him and did not want others to experience the same thing. Allie’s death was the price Holden had to pay to be the catcher in the rye. In terms of his emotions, Holden did not hold back in expressing how he felt. That night, “I broke all the goddamn windows with my fist, just for the hell of it.”

Holden has experienced clusters of severe trauma throughout his entire life. His brother Allie died of Leukemia a few years ago and Holden was so upset that he punched all of the windows out in his garage that night. Neither Holden, nor his family have yet to deal with the loss of Allie, which clearly affected Holden very much. Also Holden was a witness to James Castle’s suicide at a private school that he once attended. James Castle had been bullied and could no longer handle the situation, so he resorted to suicide by hurling himself out of a building window and falling to his death. Although Holden was not incredibly close with James Castle, he was still affected deeply by the sight of the incident.

In Alice Sebold's, "The Lovely Bones", the Salmon family wanted revenge and justice against the murderer who was their neighbour Mr. Harvey. At the end of the novel Mr. Harvey did die bringing the family closure. Also, the victim Susie Salmon was able to rest peacefully in heaven knowing that her murderer could no longer harm more innocent girls or haunt her nightmares. In William Shakespeare's, "Hamlet", Hamlet wanted to avenge his father's death by killing Claudius who murdered his father. Throughout the play, Hamlet planned his revenge plot against Claudius while distracting people that he had lost his sanity after losing his father. Later, Hamlet killed Claudius with a poisoned sword and made him drink a glass of poisoned wine for the death of his father. After knowing that Claudius was dead, Hamlet was relieved that he had avenged his father's death and that his father's soul may rest in peace. All characters in "Lovely Bones" and "Hamlet" may be different but they are all connected and similar to the emotion of grief. Grief is difficult to avoid but if we learn to surf the waves of our emotions and manage our thoughts and feel our feelings, we will be able to deal better with the difficult situations in

The first aspect of the grieving process Holden faces in denial over the death of Allie. Allie died when Holden and his family were in Maine. He died on July 18, 1946 from leukemia. Being only two years

Death is a concept to which Holden is no stranger. He speaks lovingly of his brother, Allie, who died of leukemia. "He was terrifically intelligent....But it wasn't just that he was the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest, in lots of ways. He never got mad at anybody....He used to laugh so hard at something he thought of at the dinner table that he just about fell off his chair" (38).

When Holden found out that Allie died, he broke all the windows in his garage, causing him to get psychoanalyzed. Tomás Manzón, in his essay “Exploring Change in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye” believes that “This serves as cold hard truth that Holden has hardships with change, because the removal of Allie as an element of his life hurt him, and because it happened through his tragic death, the theme of dealing with death also becomes one, by association, that is explored in the novel” (4). Holden holds the museum in such great regard because when he went to the museum as a child, it was a time where Allie was still alive and everything was okay. He wishes his life was just like how it was back then, and that nothing changed. He refuses to get close to anyone ever again because he does not want to feel the pain he is feeling now ever again, and is worried that they will end up leaving his

Which leads us into denial. Holden’s need to converse and socialize with Allie illustrates the denial of his death. By maintaining “contact” with the deceased you don’t lose them, they’re just gone

I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would've done it, too, if I'd been sure somebody'd cover me up as soon as I landed. I didn't want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory,” This quote shows that if Holden had a secure support system with his family he may have not have reacted so horribly to his brother’s death. His brother’s death from Leukemia was just the ice tip. When Holden had found out that his brother had died he had a meltdown. His brother was very important to Holden. When Stradlater, Holden’s roommate in his school, asked him to write a story about something for him Holden did. Holden wrote about his brother’s baseball mit. This was symbolic for safety just like Holden’s red hunting hat. Holden always had it with him to make sure the thought of Allie never left his mind. You could say that Allie was sort of the catcher in the rye for Holden. Just like Holden, Charlie also has traumatic events that affected his mental state. His friend Michael committed suicide the year of eighth grade. When Charlie found out he seemed rather calm. That is not usually how people react to finding out someone